


Twas the Night Before Burnish Christmas

by HollyJolly



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Also I know it's not Christmas let me LIVE, Christmas, Gen, Gueira is everybody's big brother, Hurt/Comfort, children oc's - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22413763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HollyJolly/pseuds/HollyJolly
Summary: Twas the night before Christmas and Lio thought things were going good in the settlement. Till a teenager ruins the mood.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Twas the Night Before Burnish Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> I'm writing again! More like I'm posting again, cause I'm writing lil snippets all the time on Discord but never anything polished or long enough to post. Wanted to post something though so I had Promare under my belt to show zine applications!
> 
> Please ignore that it's not Christmas anymore, I wrote this maybe a week after the holidays.

"Why do you keep doing this? Santa isn't real and it's just the grown ups playing around!"

Lio was in the middle of a story time with the younger children when the interruption startled him. It was a teenager, one of the oldest members of Gueira's side that now lived with them all in the settlement. Christmas as a Burnish on the run had to be going on at least it's 3rd or 4th year now for this kid he assumed. Still quite young but still old enough to start problems. Like now.

"What are you talking about, Xavier? How could you question the existence of Santa?", Lio innocently challenged, eyeing him warily with a stare. He made sure he kept his voice level, soft to keep up the charade he crafted. He didn't want to come down on him right in front of the children, risk making them all question things and the ice cold truth barrel down upon them like in their nightmares.

"I don't think Santa will be happy when he hears you--"

"Santa is just Gueira and Meis playing around!" Xavier huffed. He looked to all the younger kids who were staring up at him with wide and curious eyes. "Gueira just hops on whatever roof we’re under and jumps off like an idiot!” True. “And when his boyfriend's group came in, suddenly those kids started saying stuff like Santa cared about Burnish too." Also true. 

He pointed an accusatory finger to Lio. "And you're just distracting us all with the same damn story you read to us last year."

Lio hissed. Damn the kid for hitting the nail on the head and being so loud about it. It was all true; Gueira started the tradition, Meis and him just perfected it. Gueira was the one who loved his troupe too hard, risking himself to make the littlest of ones happy. Not to say that Meis didn't love his team, it was just that the idea of stealing toys and jumping off the roof with a burnish ATV sleigh was such a Gueira thing to think of. And Lio was only just now old enough to be considered an adult, too young when he was with his old group and be responsible for anything.

So it was only obvious to play along when things came together. Gueira still maintained his Santa role while Meis took on the job as reindeer, two Burnish forming a sleigh being better than one. And Lio made sure to keep the naive and hopeful children entertained with stories or whatever else he could do to prevent them from discovering their ploy. In doing so, what kids came from Meis side finally experienced Santa after so long without his joyous hope and wonder. 

It was only natural that the older ones would realize the shift in how things played out, would just play along or say nothing. Lio just...wished it wasn't showing itself like this.

"Xavier, please, I--," Lio tried to console but a loud thunk could be heard from above. 

"See? That's him there! He's just on top of the settlement acting like some stupid, made-up, fat man!"

"Gaywa not fat!" A tiny girl piped up, no older than a toddler. A chorus of kids with their own comments and questioning started making their own ruckus, and Lio closed his book with a sigh. At this rate they weren't going to be able to pull off their sneak peek of Santa that would rush the kids to bed. He'd have to alert Gueira in some way.

Lio eyed one of his officers who was hanging back against the wall, listening in on the story. Their eyes met and all it took was Lio to make a subtle jerk of his head for the officer to hurry off. Surely he would alert the two in time before they took off. Now it was just up to Lio to keep the kids further entertained till it was lights out.

While he wasn’t paying attention, Xavier had already taken up attention with the kids, further stealing the mic from Lio. Little kids were throwing hypotheticals and questions at the teenager. Their belief in Santa didn’t seem to waver as they challenged him. Questions about how Gueira could manage to deliver presents to everybody when he’s asleep, Gueira getting said gifts in the first place, it made Lio quite happy to see the children put so much faith in his general.

Speaking of which, Lio could see a peak of a red hat poking from the corner. Gueira seemed to have gotten the message. And sped down so fast that he hadn't gotten out of his cheap Santa costume. Around this time he would have already sped off into the night with Meis, just making a show before making sure to drop the presents off when Lio had gotten all the children to bed hours beforehand. Lio could see Gueira’s Santa red pants kicked a leg out and knew he must’ve fallen over. What was he planning on doing anyway?

He could see him fussing with something but not long after, Gueira came out from the corner. He was now in his usual casual wear, ratty, baggy shirt and yoga pants, what he normally wore around when home. It was the last clothes the kids had seen him in thank goodness but...what was he doing? 

"Hey!" Gueira marched over. "Hey, I was asleep, who's making that anti-Santa racket? Huh?" 

The little girl from before, Cassie, ran up to the older Burnish and pulled at his pants leg. "Xavi, Gaywa, Xavi say it! Tell him he wong! Santa is too weal!"

"Santa doesn't exist, ya baby. It's just him and his stupid boyfriend playing--"

"Ey! That's enough outta ya," Gueira gruffed. He put a firm grip on Xavier's head and shook him a bit. "We ain't name calling here. Santa don't want that and neither do I." He shoved the kid lightly away. "Go wait for me out by the look out, 'ight?"

Xavier kicked at the rubble but grumbled and fussed, heading away from the group. Only then could Lio sigh. "It's alright guys," Lio soothed the soft head of a nearby child. "Xavier is just scared, like we all are. It's hard to believe in somebody kind enough to leave presents for us when you're afraid like that.” Lio smiled at his comrade who smiled back and he felt instant relief.

xxx

The kid was still there waiting for him, just like he told him to, when Gueira made his way to the lookout on the roof. 

There was a sack of looted toys and items sitting out. Meis was taking a smoke at the edge further away, antlers on his head still blazing with burnish creation. There was no effort in hiding it. But it wasn’t like there was any need to when the kiddo already knew the jig was up. Gueira didn't want to deal with this but...he sighed and ran a hand through his thick locks before stepping out.

"You didn't have to make a whole scene like that, ya know?" Gueira stood next to Xavier. The brat just scowled and crossed his arms and Gueira sagged his shoulders. "You're 14 years old now, c'mon you gotta be a good influence on the lil guys, ‘kay? It sure does help me out when you behave, kiddo."

"But I'm not a kiddo! Not anymore! Especially not one who thinks playing make believe with some stupid fairy tale is going to do any good." Xavier grit his teeth. "It's pointless. Why make them believe in the lies?"

The kid was lashing out and Gueira knew better than to write it off as teenager moodyness. He too was once a teenager and on top of fearing for your life, the insecurity of yourself could strike a match of fear. Gueira had known the kid since he was still in the single digits, bright eyed and willing to please. Xavier wasn't a bad kid, he was just hitting that stage where kids just started being stupid. Meis had said once that Gueira hadn't grown out of that stage. Maybe. But right now he had people to take care of, kids to keep happy. So he had to be the grown up. Had to do something.

And that meant playing a fat man and learning how to control his flame to launch into the air. Making time to steal toys and hard to find treats. Anything to make his kids not think of themselves as trash. Kids that included Xavier, no matter how much they grew up under the shadows of a cruel world.

"Listen kiddo. I know you're scared. But sometimes..." Gueira paused to figure out just what to say. Boss would know just what to say. Meis could if he wasn't so shy so it was all up to him. Oh geez. "Just sometimes ya gotta paint a pretty picture to get through it all. Even if," Gueira pat the kids back. "Even if maybe the picture don't ever get much prettier."

He could feel shudders under his palm, hushed lil sobs. But Gueira didn't point em out. Just pulled Xavier close and rubbed his back. He couldn't do much to ease the fear of his younger companion but if Gueira could make him feel better just for tonight, then it was worth it. It was just what he had to do. As the former leader of his Mad Burnish troupe. As an adult figure. As the honorary big brother to all the unfortunate kids under his watch.

He vowed to protect them. And he would never let them down.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoy Promare, especially Mad Burnish boys, my Tweeter is @HollyJollyPaca. Warning as it is NSFW (heavy NSFW too).


End file.
